Brake beam shoe



April 16, 1940-r c. K. STILLWAGON BRAKE BEAM SHOE Filed Nv. 8. 1937 2sheets-sheet 1 lllll April 16, 1940. c. K. STILLWAGON BRAKEV BEAM SHOE 2sheets-sheet 2 Filed Nov. 8, 1957 INVENTOR.

4I... ATTORNEYS.

Patented Apr. 16, 1940 pgnrEN/.r vOFFICE 12.191.399 y femke BEAM'fsHoE-Charles Stillwagon,

Johnstowngf- Pa., nassigunorV to Davis Brake Beam Company,l Johnstown,Pa.,l

a coi-'porationgof li'ennsylvanav V p Application November s,1937,"seriainoi'flzaaee zolaims. (o1. .18s-212).

This inventionrelates to railwayfcarlftruck "brake rigging,and'm'orefparticularly'to the-brake beams thereof. l

The common way oi'su'pporting brake beams in A railway oarV trucksisbyf-hangers that are? -suspended from brackets attached to the caritruck side frames, the lowerlendsofthe hangers "being connected to brakeheads-secured to theends ofthe beams. More'recently it has-been proposedto eliminate the hangers and hanger brackets and to support the brakebeams at their ends onA ends of the beams with satisfactory surfaces forsliding engagement with their supporting ledges, -and it therefore anobject ofthis invention to overcome this difficulty by attaching Ishoesof i the'desired contour tothe beam ends., Other objects are to protectthe beam ends againstwear and to balancethebeam.

In 'accordance' with this invention a shoe is `mounted oneachend ofsuch'af brakefbeamsand extends between the adjacent side frame ledgesfor supporting the beam without-any necessity for hangers. The shoe isintheform ofvabody' of' metal that receives'the end of thebeamand hassmooth ledge-engaging surfaces. Italso'pref- Terably Vhas a lateral`'extension projectingy toward the adjacent car wheel for aiding inbalancing the beam. The shoefmayeither extend inwardly Y along the beamfar .enough to support a brake head, or it may be shortso that the brakehead can be mounted directly on the end portion of' the beam adjacentthe inner face of the shoe.

The invention is illustrated in the accompany- 'ing drawings in whichFig. 1 isa fragmentary plan View of a railway car truck and brakerigging; Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of one end of a brake beam with myshoe connected thereto; Fig. 3-is a vertical section of .the beam andshoe taken on the line III-III of Fig. 2; Fig. 4:v

is a fragmentary inside view of ar truck side frame showing in verticalsection the opposite end of the brake beam and its shoe; Fig. 5 is aView sim` ilar to Fig. 2, but of a modification with a brake headattached directly to the beam; Fig.` 6 is a vertical section taken onthe line VI-VI of Fig.- 5; and Fig. '7 is a View similar to Fig. 6 of amodilied brake head and manner of attaching it to the brake beam.

` Referring toFig. 'l offfthe drawings, a railway vcar wheel'l'isjournale`d` in one end of a car truck lside frame 2in the customarymanner, and

va ybrake beam 3 `is disposed in'r the usual location-`1 and isvactuated to apply and release a brake shoe" 4by a'brakelevertV 'towhich aconnecting rod l 'and 'a .piston rodj 8;' are pivotallyconnected. The brake shoe 'is 'carriedby a brake head 9. cony necteditovthe'end'portion' o'f the brake beam. In-

passing throughA the' brake fheads and suspended "fromb-rackets attachedto' theside frames, the

by they side frames.`

"endso'f the beam are slidably supported directly lside frameis'provided'wlth a pair of vertically spaced beamfsupportngj brackets oryledgesr ll whichjinay be'iormed in the frame or may provjectlaterally'therefromas-:integral or separate stead"of supljlorting r the brake beamby hangeg'izlo stantially parallel and are shownin Fig.4 as ex-`vtending substantially radially ofthe wheeL'which `is thef'direction`irl-which the beam moves in ap,-

vplying the brakesf `The end'portions of the brake beam are ,extendedoutwardly far enough to project betweenthe 'ledges by'fwhich'the' beamis supported-`and`-heldin place vertically although fallowedfto slide`forwardly and backwardlyf between theledges to `applyl or releasethebrake ``shoes. l Although'the 4shape* v'or yconstruction of thebr'akebeam is not important as fares this invention is'oncerned, the oneillustrated is formed ffrom" a sin'gle'rolled vbar having 'thecross-sec- 'ftion of? thisbarzisf-'cut away-from the T portion except atits ends, and the bar is then upset to on'al vform 'showninFig 3; Thecylindricalpol-e permit the cylindrical portion to be bowed outwardlytoform the tension member of the onepiece beam. It will be appare-nt thatthe irregul lar contour of theend portions of the beam is undesirableand unsatisfactory as Aa bearing against the ledges, and that the beamends and ledges'would soon wear each other away if alloWed to engage.each other.

' It is afeature ofthis invention that suitable bearing surfaee'sareprovided between thebeam ends and the ledges to prolong their lives andto insure smooth operation of the beam. Accordingly, there is mounted oneach end of thebeam a vshoe l2 that vcompensates for the irregularcontour of the beam end and forms a satisfactory bearing "against `theledges. ably consists of a body ofr metal adapted to re- This shoeprefer-` ceive and enclose the end portion of the brake beam for whichpurpose it is provided with an opening conforming to the end section ofthe beam and extending inwardly from the inner end of the shoe, as shownin Figs. 2 and 3. The shoe is provided with substantiallyparallel upperand lower faces for engaging an upper and lower ledge I I, respectively,between which the shoe slides. .y y

Any convenient manner of attachment may be used for fastening the shoeto the beam. In the shoe illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3fits outer endportion is provided with recesses I3 in which the heads of a rivet I4are countersunk to prevent them from striking the ledges II. The rivetpasses through the compression member of the.

beam for initially securing the shoe t'o the beam. Instead of a solidone-piece shoe, the shoe may be split along one side or'be formed in twopieces fastened together around the beam end. The inner end portion ofthe shoe isprovided'with openings I6 aligned with openings in the brakebeam in which suitable fastening members I'l are inserted for connectingthe brake head 9 directly to the shoe. For this purpose the brake headis p-rovided with parallel jaws adapted to slip over the parallelsurfaces of the shoe, as indicated in broken lines in Fig. 3. The headcan thus be removed without disturbing the shoe.

It is another feature of this invention that the outer end portion ofthe shoe? I2 is provided with an extension I8 projecting laterallytowards the adjacent wheel, as shown in Figs 2 and 4, to increase inthat direction the length of the bearing area between the shoe andledges whereby to aid in balancing the beam by preventing it fromtilting. This increased bearing area also causes the bearing surfaces ofthe shoe to wear more evenly instead of wearing rapidly at twodiagonally opposite corners. As shown in Fig. 2, the vertical end faceI9 of the shoe is preferably arcuate to facilitate insertion of the beambetween the ledges, it being the practice to first insert one end of thebeam between one pair of ledges and to then swing the other end of thebeam in between the opposite pair of ledges.`

It will be understood from this disclosure that the irregular endportions of a brake beam are enclosed by shoes having smooth bearingsurfaces for engaging the ledges that support the beams. A furtheradvantage is that all wear is taken up by the shoe, which can be easilyand cheaply replaced, instead of by the brake beam Also, the form of theshoe aids in balancing the beam and preventing undue wear of shoe andledges. In case it is desired to use brake hangers in addition to theledges, the ledges would be curved longitudinally to permit the beam tomove in an arcuate path.

In the modification shown in Fig. 5 the shoe 2I is considerably shorterthan the one just described so as to leave room for connection of brakehead 22 directly to the brake beam 3. The brake head is first slippedover the end of the `beam and moved inwardly until -in position to besecured to the beam, as shown in Fig, 6. Then the shoe is mounted on theend of the beam. Although the shoe must be removed before the head canbe taken olf the beam, this construction permits the use of heads ofconventional design for this beam.

Fig. 7 shows a brake head 26 adapted to be used with the short shoe 2|of Fig. 5, but this head is provided with jaws spaced far enough apartto allow the head to be slipped transversely over the beam after theshoe has been secured in place. To steady the head on the irregular beamend, filled blocks 21 are used.

-According to the provisions of the patent statutes, I have explainedthe principle and 'construction of my invention and have illustrated anddescribed what I now consider to represent its best embodiment. However,I desire to have it understood that, within the scope of the appendedclaims, the invention may Ibe practiced otherwise ythan as specicallyillustrated and described.

I claim: l. The combination with a brake beam having ends of irregularcross section adapted to be sup- I ported by ledges associated with cartruck side frames, of a shoe for each end of the beam provided with arecess for receiving the beam end to enclose it, said recess beingirregular in cross section to conform to the shape of the beam end, andvsaid shoe being provided with substantially parallel upper and lowerfaces for slidably engaging said ledges.

1 2. .The combination with a brake beam having ends of irregular crosssection adapted to be supported by ledges associated with car truck sideframes, of a shoe enclosing each end of the beam and provided withsubstantially parallel upperA and lower faces joined at their inner endsby an inner face, a brake head mounted on the brake beam adjacent theinner face of each shoe, said head'having substantially parallel jawsadapting the head to be slid transversely over the beam,'."

ller `blocks mounted in the space between the parallel jaws and theirregular beam` ends, and means for securing the head and blocks to thebeam.

' CHARLES K. STILLWAGON. ;4

